Maiji Mountain Grottoes
麦积山石窟
Located near Tianshui, a major city in Eastern Gansu Province, Wheat-Pile Mountain (The Maiji), reputed as the "Oriental Sculpture Museum," is 142 metres high. The name comes from the fact that the mountain looks like a stack of wheat. There are altogether 194 grottoes (the grottoes are divided into east grottoes and west grottoes) in all,and there are 54 grottoes in the east,and 140 grottoes in the west. All of them are cut on cliffs, 80 metres above the ground on the southern side of the mountain. The grottoes contain more than 7 200 clay or stone sculptures and over 1 300 square metres of murals,both of which are works of the 4th to 19th centuries (Northern Wei,Western Wei',Northern Zhou,Sui,Tang,the Five Dynasties,Song,Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties)—making them a perfect example of China's sculpture through the ages. In addition to clay sculptures,there are more than 2 000 pieces of pottery, bronze ware, ironware, and jade articles, ancient books,documents,paintings,calligraphy and other cultural relics in the 194 grottoes. The highest figure is about 16 metres,and the smallest being only 10 centimetres. It exquisite clay sculptures are well known not only in China but also abroad. One salient feature of the grottoes is that the only means of communication between the caves is a plank road built on the face of a precipice. The gigantic road project must have taken on-lookers' breath away.
位于天水附近,甘肃省东部的一个大城市,麦积山被誉为“东方雕塑艺术馆”，142米高。这个名字来自这样一个事实:这座山看起来像一堆小麦。共有194个石窟(石窟分为东石窟和西石窟),东有54个石窟,西有40个石窟。它们都在离地面80米高的山南面的削壁陡崖上,。石窟包含超过7 200泥土或石头雕塑和超过300平方米的壁画,都是4世纪到19世纪的作品(北魏、西魏、北周、隋、唐、五代、宋、元、明、清）使得它们成为中国雕塑古往今来的一个完美例子。除了泥土雕塑,在194个石窟中还有超过2 000件陶器,青铜器、铁器、玉制品、古书、文件、绘画、书法和其他文物。最高的人物约16米,最小的仅10厘米。它精致的粘土雕塑是不仅在中国众所周知,而且在扬名国外。石窟的一个显著特征是洞穴之间的唯一的通讯方式，它是一条建在悬崖边的木板路。巨大的公路项目让围观者无法呼吸。
The grottoes have applied to the United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for admission onto the Worid Heritage List.
石窟已被联合国教科文组织(UNESCO)收录到世界遗产名录中。
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